The primaries are over, all that is left are the national conventions and a general election. Young voters, college students in particular, have had significant turn outs for the last few presidential elections which is great. It shows that we have a politically involved generation who are becoming adults. But what about the rest of the time? There are three years in between each election. Are young people politically involved then? The statistics say no. In fact the statistics say that overall voter turnout for local elections is the lowest it has been in decades.
Voting for president of the United States is important. You are helping to chose the leader of our country, the face of the USA to the rest of the world. But when it comes down to it, the President only has so much power to accomplish the things you want to see for the country. There are other forces involved, forces that you have the power to help choose.
My generation (I am 19 years old) has become very vocal about politics during the 2016 election. We tweet, blog and post statuses about everything from memes about the candidates to how we feel about their policies. We share our support for what we want to see in our country and are quick to jump on what we don’t. But posting in our internet universe won’t help anything. We need to get up and do something.
To start, we need to vote in local elections. Vote for your state senator and representative. They are the ones who can bring your voice to Washington, D.C. They are the ones who will work to get what you want done in the federal government. The Senate and the House of Representatives make up the legislative branch of the United States' government, which has just as much power as the executive branch (i.e., the President). These are the people who can create change on a national level.
Along with voting in statewide elections, young voters need to go even closer to home. Vote for mayor, vote for your district/counties state representatives and senators, heck, get out and vote for the water commissioner or school board members. In order to enact change nationally, we’ve got to start small. If you are passionate about improving education, then vote for a school board that will work to do that. In New Hampshire, where I am from, we are facing an opioid epidemic throughout the state. If I want to change this, then I wouldn’t write a letter to Barack Obama. Instead I would write to my State Senator, John Reagan or even the Mayor of Manchester, Ted Gatsas. These are the people who can get things done, so we need to put people who will work for our beliefs in those positions.
This brings me to my final point, your political involvement does not have to end with votes. Voting is important, but there is so much more that you can do. As a generation that grew up with the Internet, our first instinct is to head to Twitter to tweet at our representative (they all seem to have social media now). Sometimes these are civil and professional, but it is easy to get angry, which does not help your case. The offices of the politicians who manage those accounts are not likely to notice a less-than-40-characters tweet. Instead, take the time to write a letter. Tell them who you are, what you are writing to ask them and why you are passionate about it. This will get their attention and show your commitment. If letter writing isn’t your thing, then give their office a phone call. You may not get to speak to them directly, but it shows persistence and dedication to the political process. Finally, if you really want to make an impression and have the time, then you can go to the offices of your representative, voice your concerns and ideas to them or their team in person.
How you get involved is not as important as getting involved in the first place. We voted for a president that would represent us and now it’s time to go further. We need to vote. We need to talk to our representatives. If we want to see political change, then we need to get off the internet and do something.
